Portland Maples encompasses a southern mesic and floodplain forests on sloped terrtain in the southwestern corner of Monroe County.  Part of Coon Creek Fishery Area, the natural area lies along Rutlands Coulee Creek and can be reached by parking on the side of Oboe Avenue for the larger west parcel or Oakdale Avenue for the smaller east parcel.  No trails are found here, so enjoy wandering around the forested terrain at your own discretion.

Portland Maples was my first stop on the way to a weekend camping trip with my brother.  We parked on Oboe Avenue near the point where Portland Maples is on one side of the road and Eureka Maple Woods (see tomorrow’s post) is on the other.  The forest was like many I had come to visit so far with tall trees forming a thick canopy above.  There was a noticable lack of thorny shrubbery which made exploration quite a bit easier.  This would appear to be  a great site for ephemeral wildflowers in the spring, but alas, this was late July.  Wild leek was abundant throughout the natural area and scattered boulders lent accent to the green canvas.  I would not mind another visit here, perhaps spring or fall, in conert with a revisit to Eureka Maple Woods, but I would not rank it as a high priority revisit at this point.

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Flower

More of my photos (and full-res) from Portland Maples can be viewed here.

Additional Information